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People *Can* Change (Hillary Has, But Donald Hasn’t)

Sunday, October 2nd, 2016

[Note: Hey there, everybody. This post was (obviously) supposed to come before the election… I know it’s hard to believe that somehow I *STILL* have posts I need to catch up on, and I still have loads of posts in the drafts. This was one of them. And I’m posting it now.]

People talk a lot about both Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s past.

And they should! When you’re running for President, you should indeed be judged on your body of work. And it would be hypocritical of me to say, “Please remember how great Hillary’s ‘women’s rights are human’s rights’ speech was from many years ago, but also please forget she ever said ‘superpredator’.

If people should have their achievements and good things as a plus for them, I understand that that means the negative things they’ve done get considered too…

I also understand that if I expect you to care about terrible things Donald Trump has done, such as his housing policies discriminating against black people, then again, I have to expect that you’ll care about Hillary, for instance, not being for gay marriage for a while.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we were all perfect all the time throughout the history of our lives? Oh my goodness, I’d love that.

But uh, I know I’m not.

I think Hillary and Donald are different in the sense that (… well, in a million billion ways, but what I’m talking about here is…) I think Hillary and Donald are different because if you look at Donald’s past, you see a very complete picture of a racist misogynist who takes advantage of people. And if you look at Hillary’s past, I think you see a complete picture of a woman doing her best to change the world for the better. But sometimes she got it wrong with the information she had at the time…

And it’s a total false equivalency to say, “Well, they’ve both done bad things,” because when you look at the full and complete picture, they tell two different stories…

And just to give a (terribly embarrassing!) little anecdote from my own life…

I went to Christian school for many years. And for a while, I was kind of indoctrinated to things I don’t actually believe… But when I was younger, I was taught those things were the truth – not just some opinion, but the truth… And I actually surprisingly, even still, did a good job of questions a lot and fighting back on a lot… But I didn’t fight back on every single thing.

And I think my freshman year of high school (when I should’ve known better, and I’m so sorry I didn’t)… I told one of my gay friends that I was sorry he was going to hell.

And I said it in an emotional way because I cared about him, and truly didn’t want to see him have this hellfire and stuff. The idea of that made me sad. So, it came from a place of compassion, not hate… But I’m guessing it certainly came across as very freaking hateful that I was so sure he was going to hell.

As I got older (even before high school ended) I changed and my understanding about the world changed. I apologized to that friend. (Thankfully, he told me he actually didn’t even remember that encounter – though that’s also sad if he’s hearing that crap so much that it rolls off him so easily… Sad, but I guess good.)

Anyway, not only did I apologize to my friend, but I have gone to a rally and held a sign at the statehouse in NY to fight for marriage equality. I ran 52 half marathons in 52 weeks and raised thousands of dollars for marriage equality. I truly care about equality (not just in marriage, but in all ways) for the LGBT community.

I don’t think there is a person you would meet from the last 8 years of my life who would tell you in any way that anti-gay in any way.

But I had an incorrect belief at one time, based on the information I had. And I feel terrible about it.

And the only thing I can do is move forward and try to right wrongs and always try to be a better person.

It’s a terribly embarrassing story. And I didn’t have to admit it. I don’t think anyone else remembers it well enough for it to ever “come out.” But I am admitting it, because I’m guessing we’re all Hillary Clinton to some extent…? Right?

That’s a glistening moment I regret. But when I change my ways and don’t just say it, but show it over and over and over again, I wouldn’t want people throwing a mistake in my face over and over – and I personally don’t think we should be doing it with Hillary, either.

We can only do so much as we learn and grow. And I truly believe that’s what happens with Hillary – she learns and grows and moves forward.

Whereas Donald Trump has been insulting women even through this year! He hasn’t changed. His past isn’t made up of one-off mistakes. It is who he is.

She is my role model. And I’ll deal with the fact that she’s at least a little human (as we all are).